Mouth organ



Aug. 16, 1949. H. BIBUS 2,478,963

, MOUTH ORGAN Filed Sept. 25, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet l MM M Aug. 16, BlBUs MOUTH ORGAN Filed Sept. 25, 1946 3 Sheeos$heet 2 Fly. 9

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Patented Aug. 16, 1949 UNITED PATENT OFFICE ORGAN Hans Bilgug, lgusnachtezlltich, Switzerland App ica i n S pt r 25 .946, Ser N s 699. 53 Switaerland July 2, 1 946 In most of the mouth organs in use today the major and minor scales are divided into two groups, the first being played .on air being exhaled and the second on air being inhaled. For example, on exhaling, an instrument timed to the key of C major will sound the, single n tes C E, G, C. E, G, C, or, if all are blown together, the C major chord. On inhaling. the remainin no s of the scale of C major, G, B. D. F. A. B, 1.3, are sounded givin the chord of G major in the lower tone range and a disharmonlc ghord in the upper tone range both of which are mostly used to re place a G seventh. Haring .d fitOn il ins r ments as mentioned above is therefore restricted to two chords.

Chromatic slide valve mouth organs. increase musical possibilities b v incorporati sen-la enes- These chromatic mouth organs are tuned in principle in exactly the same way .as, the diatom mouth or a pr vi usly des ribed. The former. however, incorporate tw-Qreed plates. the eeds o one plate being tuned half a tone ldsher tha those of the other. When playing. one or the t r of e eed plates ca be selected b operating the slide-valve. ,In this way all 12 notes of the chromatic scale can be played, as well as four chords, whose application, however, is limited, with the result that this instrument is chief- 1y suited for playing the melody only.

Other designs are known which enable several chords in difierent keys to be played. These instruments are very' complicated and demand great skill on the part oi the person playin them, with the result that these mouth organs are not very popular.

The present invention relates to a mouth organ in which keys and chordsare not determined or rather are determined not only by the direction of the flow of air but by the position of perforated slide-valves which are interposed in the air path. Contrary to most of the mouth organs in use hitherto, in the case of this instrument melody and accompaniment chords are not selected simultaneously. By moving the slide-valves difierent chords can be combined with the same melody note. In this connection it is very important that at least two sliding plates, which can be moved separately, should be fitted one behind the other and their perforations arranged in such a way that in the various positions of the slidevalves air channels are opened which correspond to the various chords which can be made with the reeds of the instrument. The number of slidevalves depends both on the number of chords which are to be available and on the number of 2 different positions which each single slide valve can take up. The fewer the number or slidevalve positions the greater the number of slide valves which have to be incorporated to obtain a given number of chords.

The accompanying drawings represent a corn structional example of a mouth organ in acoordance with the present invention. The example shown is a C major tonic instrument with three slide valves by means of which the chords, C major, G seventh, A minor, D minor, minor and F major sixth can be played. These are the chords most frequently met with in the simpler C major compositions. In addition to these a whole series of disharmonic chords can be formed which are useful for transitional purposes.

Fig. 1 is a view of a mouth organ in perspective, with the various sliding plates drawn out in order to make their underlying principle more easily understood.

Fig. 2 is a cross=section through line I -.-I in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a CIOSSZ'SQCtiQH through lin 11- ell in Fig.2.

Figs. 4-.-9 show diagrammaticallythe various positions of the sliding plates.

Fig. 10 shows the special perforation of the various sliding plates.

Fig. '11 is a cross-section through line III.-..1I I in Fig. 12.

Fig. 12 is a crossasection through line V:V in Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a cross-section through line IVs-IV in Fig. 11.

Fig. 14 is a sideevlew of the mouth piece as in Fig. 12.

Figs. 11-3 illustrate the generai design of the instrument.

In the reed bank I of the instrument are cut the upper and lower reed chambers 2, 3 which are covered on top and underneath by reed plates 4, 5 containing all the notes of the scale of C. Slots 6 cut in the reed bank act as guides for slide valve bows 1, 8, 9 which can be moved backwards and forwards in the said slots. The slide valve bows I, 8, 9 support and stretch the slide valves I], l2, 13 in such a way that by means of these bows 1, 8, 9 the slide valves H, l2, [3 can be moved between cover plate In in front oi the reed bank and mouth piece I4 without danger of bending. The displacement of slide valve bows I, 8, 9 and thus of slide valves I I, l2, I3 is obtained by exerting pressure on double-armed levers I6, I! supported by spindle l5. These double-armed levers are designed and supported in such a way more than one octave.

3 that one of the outside levers, two adjacent levers, or all three levers together can be depressed easily with one finger.

Reed bank I incorporates springs 2| which actuate bows l, 8, 9 and thus slide valves ll, [2, 13. On releasing levers l6, I! both bows and valves are brought back to their medial position. 22 is the metalcover plate of the mouth organ.

Figs. 4-9 show how the chords C major, G seventh, A minor, D minor, E minor and F major sixth can be formed by bringing the perforated slide valves into the various positions. The constructional example shown in the drawings is, of course, only one of numerous possible alternatives. If the perforated slide valves are designed so that they can be moved into five different positions instead of three, the chords mentioned above can be obtained by incorporating only two: perforated slide valves instead of three without otherwise altering the instrument.

The mouth organ so far described in the constructional example has the disadvantage that for every note of a melody a chord must be selected in which the note occurs. This is also the case even when complete chords are not desired and to this end the open channels between the octave of the notes of the melody are covered with the tongue. This difficulty can be overcome as shown .for example in Fig. by means of a mouthpiece v23 capable of sliding along the mouthpiece guide 14' and by supplementing all perforated slide valves, the cover plate and the mouthpiece guide with a series of holes for the notes of the melody.

In Fig. 10 the perforated slide valves, modified :as above, are numbered ll, I2and [3, while the cover plate is numbered'lil.

As'Figs. 11-14 show, thismouthpiece incorporates an upper channel 24 which operates the perforations of the chord series and a lower channel 25 which operates the perforations of the melody series. Channel 25 leads into two air exits which are spaced one octave from each other, while channel 24 leadsto a slot between the two. The air inlets to channels 24, 25 are separate and can therefore be covered with the tongue. The embodiment of the mouthpiece shown here is also only given as an example because the openings canbe spread out to cover In addition, with the mouthpiece shown it is possible to combine any chord which can be played on the instrument with each single note of the tonic series, which is of vital importance if proper harmony is to be obtained. Furthermore, this mouthpiece enables the player to alternate between melody and accompaniment. g 1

It will be noted that in each slide one or two openings are omitted in each octave length and that each such unperforated area covers an opencovered by the mouthpiece.

ing of another slide in the medial position of the slides.

As indicated previously, the mouth organ constructed in accordance with the present invention can obviously be designed to play semi-tones in order to increase the musical scope of the instrument. The only changes necessary are in the number of sliding plates, their several positions and th perfor'ation arrangement.

The mouth organ constructed in accordance with the present invention is very simple, can be manufactured cheaply and satisfies the demand for an instrument capable of producing correct harmony, at the same time being easy to learn.

I claim:

1. A mouth organ comprising a reed bank hav:

-ing a perforated cover plate, a mouthpiece fixed to the reed bank, at least two independently movable slides arranged between the reed bank and mouthpiece, said slideshaving perforations distributed corresponding to the exhaling openings of the mouth piece and to .the cover plate of the reed bank, at least one and no more than two openings per octave lengthbeing omitted in each slide in such manner that in the medial position of all of the slides each area of omission of a slide covers an opening of another slide.

2. A mouth organ according to claim 1, wherein the number of slide valves is three.

3. A mouth organ according to claim 1, including bows for supporting the slide valves and levers for shifting the bows inopposite directions. 4. A mouth organaccording to claim 1, including bows for supporting the slide valves and movable in opposite directions, and springs resisting the movement of the bows and acting, on release of a shifted bow, to return the same to medial position. 7

v '5. A mouth organ according to claim 1, including a mouthpiece slidable over the whole length of the air inlet, said mouthpiece being provided with two channels, one of which acts on two notes. separated by an octave, while the other leads, viav a slot, to the other notes or air inlets which are HANS BIBUS.

- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number I Name Date 375,608 Delano Dec. 7, 1887 581,313 Smith Apr. 27, 1897 1,806,689 Jontof 1--.. May 26,1931

2,179,993 Davies Nov. 14, 1939 2,252,236 Stule Aug. 12, 1941 

